Friday, 27 June 2014

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words – and tired of his
safe, boring and rather lonely life at home. He leaves for boarding
school filled with cautious optimism, to seek what the dying poet
Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at
Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and
dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him
into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another.

Looking For Alaska was my first foray into John Green novels and it's fair to say that the author comes with a decent bit of hype surrounding him. I always have such high expectations when it comes to popular books and although Looking For Alaska didn't quite meet those expectations, it was still a good book.

When Miles moves to boarding school in Alabama he meets Alaska Young, a funny, intelligent and deeply troubled girl who he instantly falls in love with. Over the next few months Miles' once lonely life is transformed by his roommate Chip, Alaska and other friends he meets. He begins dating a Lara, a Romanian student but his mind is never far from Alaska and when she kisses him one evening and promises it will be continued Miles feels like he's finally found happiness. However a tragic accident brings his life crashing down.

While overall I did enjoy this book I felt at times the character of Alaska lacked any real depth. Some of her issues were briefly mentioned and I feel this was probably not explored further to make her seem more mysterious but I just felt it let the story down a bit. Overall though it was a funny, touching novel that deserves a read and I look forwards to giving John Green's other books a go.